He's dying, but grateful

Sunday

Nov 3, 2013 at 2:00 AM

NEWINGTON — Kenneth Rahn sits in an armchair in his living room showing off a Halloween card signed by the nurses in the oncology clinic at Portsmouth Regional Hospital. One of the nurses, Cathy Denning, had dropped of the card Wednesday, the day before the holiday.

Suzanne Laurent

NEWINGTON — Kenneth Rahn sits in an armchair in his living room showing off a Halloween card signed by the nurses in the oncology clinic at Portsmouth Regional Hospital. One of the nurses, Cathy Denning, had dropped of the card Wednesday, the day before the holiday.

Dressed warmly in woolen socks, hat and a fleece zip-up jacket with his construction company's logo, Rahn said he couldn't even begin to name all the people who have cared for him on his journey battling pancreatic cancer.

Rahn, 56, entered hospice care three weeks ago. He is a shadow of the man he was two years ago before being diagnosed with the cancer that has now spread to his upper colon.

His wife, Darleen Rahn, has been at his side as primary caregiver since Kenneth got the bad news in January 2012.

"He starting getting sick just before Christmas (in 2011)," she said.

"We went to see Dr. (Roger) Epstein at (Portsmouth Regional Hospital) when he kept getting worse in January." Epstein, a gastroenterologist, had bad news.

"He said 'We've got problems'," Kenneth Rahn said. "He also told me I wasn't leaving (the hospital.)" A stent was placed in Rahn's pancreas and he was sent to the Lahey Clinic in Burlington, Mass., to have a Whipple procedure done to remove the tumor by surgeon Dr. Roger Jenkins. This procedure removes part of the pancreas and part of the small intestine.

After rounds of chemotherapy at Portsmouth Regional and radiation at Exeter Hospital, Rahn returned to work in March 2012. He is employed as a heavy equipment operator by J. Derenzo Co.

"They're working right now around Fenway Park," Rahn said last Wednesday, while flipping channels on his television to catch some pre-game programming on the day the Red Sox won the World Series.

He misses the job he's held for 17 years. In August, his cancer had spread to his small intestine. He has been hospitalized with bowel obstruction four times and has peritoneal carcinomatosis with malignant ascites, which is fluid collecting in the abdomen.

A few weeks ago, the couple got more bad news.

"John Smith (a physician's assistant in Portsmouth Regional's emergency room) came and we all held hands," Rahn said. "He said, 'Are you ready for this?'" Rahn's cancer is terminal and Beacon Hospice was called in to help as Rahn continues to stay at home with Darleen and their cocker spaniel, Harley.

Rahn gets teary-eyed talking about the people who have helped him along his journey.

"Dr. Jenkins was my backbone," he said. "He treated me like a person and not like a number."

Darleen Rahn said Jenkins was very supportive when her husband wanted to go back to work, and would give him pep talks during his frequent follow-up visits. Rahn worked full time around his chemotherapy and radiation treatments.

"Ken got to know everyone from the nurses to the cleaning staff at Lahey and they were all so good to him each time he visited," Darleen Rahn said.

Rahn can't say enough about all the people he's met over the last two years.

"Everyone, from the three hospitals, to the neighbors and friends and family, have been wonderful," he said.

He shows another knit hat given to him by his former employer, P.K. Brown Construction.

Darleen Rahn has owned Darleen's Subs & Pizza on Islington Street in Portsmouth for 27 years. She said that even while her husband was so sick last year he would still come in to help her and support the business.

"He is my fuel," she said. "He always believed in me." Since Kenneth has gone into hospice care, Darleen goes in early every morning to her shop and does all the food prep for her employees and goes home to be with her husband. They have been together for 31 years.

Caring for her husband, Darleen doesn't want to ask for help. "It's hard for me to ask," she said getting teary-eyed.

After talking about his caregivers, Kenneth then walked slowly to the garage he was insulating at the couple's Newington Road home. He showed the equipment he used to make his lawn "the best on the block." He also walked with Darleen out to a fish pond he made in their front yard that he is especially proud of.

Kenneth Rahn is the youngest of four in the Rahn family. His oldest brother, Tony Rahn, died in July in a drowning accident in the Piscataqua River.

"He was always there for me," Kenneth Rahn said with tears streaming down his cheeks. "He'd come over and say, 'I'm here for you big boy'. I know he's waiting for me up there, but I've just as soon be down here for a bit more."

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